The reason for vacations & cameras

This is the love of my life. The picture was taken at a restaurant in Willimgton, North Carolina in 2005. It was the first real vacation that we'd taken together since 1999.

She's beautiful. She always has been.

I first met her in 1993. We were in a theatre class. She was pregnant with Braiden at the time. My brother and I were in the class, and eventually we both dropped out.

I didn't see her again until 2 years later when we both auditioned for a play in college. During the audition, we were paired up to act out a scene together. She says she noticed me right away! ;) We both got into the play, and we were paired up as husband and wife!

Later in the year, we were in another play together, and I really got to know her then. She was really frickin' good in that play, and we still have the best actress plaque she got for her work!!

We spent a lot of time together, and I really loved being around her. Late in the '95-'96 school year, she got a really short haircut, which made her look even more beautiful. I used to see her in the hallways and razz her about looking like Pat Benetar. (Which was right down her alley!)

As I got to know her, I really started to like her. We shared the same interests and sense of humor.

Our first date involved a trip to Bismarck, North Dakota. We went to a bar that had an Ozzy Osbourne cover band. The singer could sing like Ozzy, but in between songs, he couldn't keep up the English accent! We laughed the whole time, and I enjoyed every second we spent!

It wasn't long before I was in love with her. It's amazing when you find that perfect person that fills in all the empty spaces in your life.

I've always been a complicated (read-difficult) person, and Kristin always knew how to deal with me and my moods. When we got together, she helped build me up after a really difficult time in my life. She is loyal and honest and opinionated and funny.

She also was willing to do anything. We'd stage little wrestling matches in WalMart. I'd pretend to whip her into the ropes or fake hit her with a child's mattress. She always went along with whatever goofy thing I'd try.

The night we got married, we used the whirlpool tub in our honeymoon suite. I turned it on and shot myself right in the rear-end with the jets of water!

She was just as talented at broadcasting as she was at acting. At both places we worked, all the photographers begged to work with her, because they knew that not only would they have a great story, but that Kristin could write it in no time flat.

One time, she couldn't find our car keys. She looked around the entire apartment. Turns out, the key chain was hanging from her mouth! The kicker to this story ... earlier on, she had had come to me, with the keys in her mouth, asking me for help finding them. I guess I looked at her and asked, "Well, where did you look last?".

I love every thing about my wife. I love that she sings the harmony parts of songs. (It's the reason I keep showering her with cassettes and CDs of her favorite groups. I never would have bought a large percentage of Hall & Oates's back catalogue on my own! Some goes for Air Supply, REO Speedwagon, and The Monkees.)

I love the pouty pose that she makes anytime she takes a picture with her sisters.

I love the fact that she's convinced that I have somehow programmed the DVD/VCR remote not to work for her.

I love how she hates the usage of the word "amazing".

I love childhood pictures of her. Especially any ones wear she's wearing glasses.

I love that she edits my e-mails and cleans up my spelling mistakes.

I love the fact she's always willing to try new things. She had the guts to move us to Fort Myers, FL for her first job. I never would have Thunder Beef and Pad Thai and Cincinnati style Chili without her.

I love watching her with our children. She has always been a great mom, and she's the reason all three of our kids have turned out so well.

I love her conscience. She has a beautiful sense of right and wrong, and she's taught the kids well.

I love how I have someone who was there with me thru it all. Someone who remembers the time I threw my back out jumping up in the air when she and the kids came to pick me up outside Peder Rice's.

Someone who was there the time Brenna got stuck in the toilet. Or when Braiden had his first date.

Someone who remembers ending up in the ditch coming back from Winnipeg ... the time I irrationally told everyone in the car, "I love you all, we're all going to die!" as we went into the ditch.

Someone who took me to hospital when I had strep throat, and who took me to the mall when the Alice Cooper box set came out.

Together we've seen the World Trade Center, the Gulf of Mexico, the beach at Lake Winnipeg, the old streets of Asheville, North Carolina, and the ghetto of Garry, Indiana. We've been in awe of the Tennessee mountains and in fear of the Pennsylvania turnpike.

This woman has both figuratively and literally saved my life on more than one occasion.

Things haven't always been perfect, but they have been exciting. I've been spoiled rotten by the best woman in the world.

Hurry back, gorgeous.